The radio reports of the soldiers on the line were so happy to have a reduction in the Frost Giant numbers that it felt cruel to report in their numbers that day.
The main lines were celebrating that the Frost Giant reinforcements were finally slowing down, but that all came to a crashing halt when they found out that it was only because Karl’s merged group had killed hundreds of Giants today, and nearly prevented them from resupplying their lines.
That news was a shock all through the Command Structure. There was something definitely amiss with this double strength group, but none of them were privy to the details of the group’s strength, other than their official rankings.
On paper, they didn’t look like anything special. There was one extra cleric from the usual composition, but that shouldn’t change the outcome of the fights in a highly positive way. If anything, it would normally reduce their efficiency, as the Clerics weren’t known for their damage output among well-equipped Elites.
It was only among the average soldiers and the faithful on the line that they really shone as the beacons of power with their blessings.
So, the Generals in command of the Theatre were thoroughly baffled by the number of Frost Giants that the ten Elites were managing to kill. So much so, that they even sent a scout up the mountains to watch the Frost Giant city through binoculars.
They could see that the Giants were leaving the city, and then at various points, they just stopped coming over the hills. A few times, they did manage to get a view of the fighting, but it was so far in the distance that none of them could make it out clearly through the blinding snow.
Seeing all those Giants disappear before they could make it to the front lines was a wake-up call for the soldiers. The Elites in whatever group was hunting out there were even more scary than the groups of Frost Giants that they had been hoping not to run into during this mission.
But more than that, they could keep up their kill count all day long.
They seemed to have left the battlefield mid-afternoon, but you could only be in combat so long before becoming exhausted, and by the preliminary count of the scouts, they had killed hundreds of Giants in a single day, just as their reports had insisted.
Most of the top brass would not be happy to hear that, as they had thought that the threat was tapering off, and they could claim credit for their stalwart defence. But if it wasn’t the case, then they were only resting while the Frost Giants found a new way around to attack their lines.
But for groups that had retreated, other than the two who were closest to the Volcano, it was a golden opportunity to move up to a better position. They could retake the best defensible spots and fortify them as much as possible while the numbers coming at them were lower than usual.
It might be their only chance, and they didn’t know how long that group would be in the area. The suspicion was that it was an unannounced Royal Rank elite, and not two Commander led groups working together, as the official reports said.
If they had a Prince with them, it would make sense that they could mow through Frost Giants so quickly. But even two on one at the same rank, it would not be easy to defeat the groups fast enough to get out of the way before the next group was on you.
The sun faded from the sky, and the scouts bedded down for the night, hoping that Karl and his group would be back out in full force the next morning.
The next morning brought the Generals just the reprieve that they were hoping for. More disappearing Frost Giant reinforcements all along the paths leading to the closest sections of the line.
But what Karl and the others found was not nearly as encouraging.
Tessa sighed as she picked up a wooden tube with her spear. “That’s the fifteenth one this morning. Every group leader, whether it’s a Commander or an Ascended, has one of the drawings of the statue.
They are definitely hunting for it, and that means they’re not going to give up until they either find it or run out of soldiers. But if they’re still making more clones…” She trailed off, letting that sentiment linger.
If they were making more clones, they would never run out of troops, they would just keep hunting for the statue, or whoever had taken it.
Lotus shrugged. “At least the flow is lighter today. There are only a third as many groups as before, and that is with the first route blockaded by the Magma Elementals. I think that we might be able to push further forward, or up into the other routes, soon.
If we can find out where the ones who aren’t coming this way are going, we can relay that back to the lines and maybe save some lives.”
“Don’t you think that it’s getting warmer here? I mean, it’s still frigid, but it is definitely warmer here than it was a few days ago.” Doug noted as they fought.
“I think it is. That warm breeze coming from the volcanic ash area is taking the chill out of the air, and it’s only a little below freezing now. At this rate, it might actually be comfortable to wait on the front lines, instead of a constant struggle to keep from becoming an ice cube.” Bob agreed.
Karl looked up at the faint haze of ash still in the sky. “But the Giants don’t do well in the heat, so it might change their deployment routes. If they stop coming this way entirely, then what do we do?”
Tessa chuckled. “Then we kill Giants somewhere else until they give up and go home. If a Magma Dragon wants to hold this portion of the border for us, I have no objections to that.
However, I do want to see what is in that city. If they’re still cloning Frost Giants, it would be best to find a way to destroy another of the statues or crystals.”
The group paused for a snack, as the groups were so far apart today, and Karl looked off in the distance, where the city should be if it wasn’t hidden behind the horizon.
“If the rate drops again tomorrow, I say that we head for the city and see what’s going on. Perhaps they’re sending them on a different route, further from the Dragon. If the combination of us and the Elementals has completely rerouted reinforcements to this portion of the line, then the army should know so that they can push their advantage.”
[Want me to go look?] Hawk asked.
[Yeah, go ahead. We will do our own scouting here for the next few hours. Let us know what is going on in the city.] Karl agreed.
“Hawk is going to go take a look. We will keep clearing what we can while he is gone, and then we can use whatever he finds to make our plans for tomorrow.” Karl explained.
Dana frowned at him. “We’re not seriously planning to raid a Frost Giant city, are we?”
Karl shrugged, and the clerics laughed.
Doug shook his head. “The chances of that are very low. The summoning stone will likely be placed outside the city limits so that they can gather the troops and send them on the way without bothering the citizens.
If it’s right in the middle of the city, there isn’t anything that we can do about it, and the army isn’t going to press all the way out here into Frost Giant territory to attack a city. They would rather save their manpower to defend the existing border and hope that we find a way to return the cold to the area it covered before the war.
If that happens, then this front will be considered a resounding success and the army will focus on the other fronts where there is much more danger.”
[Then we should smash the city and make the giants go away. I want to be warm again.] Thor complained.
“Thor says he’s all for driving the Frost Giants away if it means he gets to go to another front.” Karl laughed.
This might be the supposedly easiest front, when judging purely by the rank of the opponents, but the pure numbers as well as the freezing cold certainly didn’t make it the most popular.